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Dyoplax
Dyoplax is an extinct genus of sphenosuchian crocodylomorph. Fossils have been found from the type locality within the upper Schilfsandstein Formation in Stuttgart-Feuerbach, Germany. The formation was deposited during the early Carnian stage of the Late Triassic 228 million years ago in a lagoonal paleoenvironment. Numerous bivalves, chondrichthyan fish such as Palaeobates, trematosaurian temnospondyls such as Metoposaurus''Benton, M. J. (1986). The Late Triassic tetrapod extinction events. ''In: Padtan, K. (ed.): The Beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs: 303-320; Cambridge. Cambridge University PressHunt, A. P. (1993). A revision of the Metoposauridae (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) of the Late Triassic with description of a new genus from the western United States. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletins 59:67-97; Flagstaff, a phytosaur, and plants such as Neocalamites and Equisetites were also present in the paleoenvironment that existed at the time. The holotype specimen was a cast of a nearly complete skeleton that lacked only parts of the tail and limb bones. The age of the specimen within the strata shows that Dyoplax is the oldest sphenosuchian, predating other genera from the late Carnian that were once thought to be the oldest members of Sphenosuchia such as Hesperosuchus and Parrishia''Parrish, J. M. (1991). A new specimen of an early crocodylomorph (cf. ''Sphenosuchus sp.) from theLate Triassic Chinle Formation of Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 11(2):198-212. Phylogeny When originally described, Dyoplax was said to have had "the head of a lizard and the armor of a gavial"Fraas, O. (1867). Dyoplax arenaceus, ein neuer Stuttgarter Keuper-Saurier. Jh. Verein vaterländ. Naturk. Württemberg 23:108-112; Stuttgart.. When the taxon Pseudosuchia was first proposed in 1890, Dyoplax was considered one of the three genera within the clade, and was included within the family "Aetosauridae"Zittel, K. A. von (1890). Handbuch der Palaeontologie. I. Abtheilung Palaeozoologie. III Band. Vertebrata (Pisces, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves). – XII + 900 pp., 719 figs. München & Leipzig (Oldenbourg).. Several other papers published in later years have also placed the genus within PseudosuchiaHuene, F. von (1902). Ubersicht über die Reptilien der Trias. Geol. paläont. Abhandlungen, N. F. 6'(1): 1-84; JenaMcGregor, J. H. (1906). The Phytosauria, with especial reference to Mystriosuchus and Rhytidodon. ''Memoirs of the American Mususeum of Natural History '''9:29-101; New York.Huene, F. von (1942). Lieferungen 3/4. Pseudosuchia, Saurischia, Rhynchosauridae und Schlussabschnitt. Die Fossilen Reptilien des Südamerikanischen Gondwanalandes. Ergebnisse der Sauriergrabungen in Südbrasilien 1928/29. C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, München 161-332Romer, A.S. Vertebrate Paleontology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago; 2nd edition (1945).. In 1956 the genus was refered to Notochampsidae, now known as ProtosuchidaeRomer, Alfred Sherwood (1956). Osteology of the Reptiles. Chicago. University of Chicago Press. pp. 1–772. ISBN 0-89464985-X.. It was suggested to be a possible erpetosuchid in 1966Romer, A.S. Vertebrate Paleontology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago; 3rd edition (1966) ISBN 0-7167-1822-7Carroll, R.L. (1988). Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. WH Freeman and Company, New York ISBN 0-7167-1822-7, but was later classified as one of the earliest protosuchids in 1994Benton, M. J. (1994). Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic extinctions among continental tetrapods: Testing thepattern. In: Fraser, N. C. & Sues, H-D. (eds.): In the Shadow of the Dinosaurs: 366-397; Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.. In that same year a paper was published that identified several synamomorphies characteristic of the clade AetosauriaParrish, J. M. (1994). Cranial osteology of Longosuchus meadei and the phylogeny and distribution of the Aetosauria. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 14(2):196-209. This confirmed that Dyoplax was not within the order Aetosauria as had been previously speculated due to the fact that it lacked four out of five of the synapomorphies associated with Aetosauria. Dyoplax was first considered to be within the suborder Spenosuchia in a paper published in 1998 by Spencer et al.''Lucas, S. G.,Wild, R. and Hunt, A. P. (1998). Dyoplax O. FRAAS, a Triassic sphenosuchian from Germany. ''Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, B 263:1–13. The authors claimed that all synapomorphies present within Crocodylomorpha, as defined in 1992 by Sereno & Wild, were present in Dyoplax''Sereno, P. C. & Wild, R. (1992). Procompsognathus: theropod, "thecodont" or both? ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 12(4):435-458. They further concluded that the genus had most of the synapomorphies common to Sphenosuchia, lacking only the forked posterior process of the squamosal. On this basis, the authors concluded that there was enough evidence to place Dyoplax within Sphenosuchia, a phylogenetic position that remains to this day. References External links [http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=checkTaxonInfo&taxon_no=38280&is_real_user=1 Dyoplax] in the Paleobiology Database Category:Terrestrial crocodiles Category:Triassic crocodylomorpha Category:Prehistoric reptiles of North America